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Participants:
Marina Bautier / Nathalie Dewez / Gésine Hackenberg / Chris Kabel / Romy Smits / Wieki Somers & Dylan van den Berg / Diane Steverlynck / Jannetje in 't Veld & Toon Koehorst / Danny Venlet / Pieter Vermeersch


About

The EI - Entity Identity project was devised by the Belgian trend spotter and curator Veerle Wenes. It involved twelve Belgian and Dutch designers and artists having their ideas and designs produced in traditional materials by Chinese artisans.

Each of the participants spent a month in Beijing, where they worked with Chinese craftspeople and with one or more traditional workshops in and around the metropolis.

One of China's best-known artists, Ai Weiwei, who makes use of traditional materials and crafts as well as contemporary materials and techniques in his own works, interviewed the European participants. The interviews form an integral part of the EI project.

The products of EI - Entity Identity will be presented in an exhibition of the same name, which will be premiered in the SM's - Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch. Later, it will travel to Beijing, where it will be on show during the Olympic Games. The project will conclude with a presentation in Belgium.

EI - Entity Identity alludes playfully to the Chinese export porcelain of the 17th century, i.e. porcelain ordered through trading companies and made in Chinese workshops to the exact specifications of wealthy Westerners. The age-old crafts, skills, techniques and materials have been preserved to this day, though they now threaten to disappear as China modernises at lightning speed. Besides porcelain, these traditional workshops produce such items as painted glass, lacquerwork (Urushi), kites, woodcarvings, handwoven carpets and bronzework.

The project was not just about artists and designers bringing their own experience and professional enthusiasm to China. They were also very much open to the impressions they received in Beijing. They were prompted by the experience and by their interaction with Chinese artisans to re-evaluate their design philosophy. The aim of the project was very much to establish a cross-fertilisation between contemporary Western notions and traditional Chinese know-how.